Silicon and titanium in peat profiles as indicators of human impact

Abstract

A close correlation exists at four peat sites between pollen indicators of human impact, especially Plantago lanceolata and Cerealia, and the elements silicon and especially titanium as indicators of erosion. Pollen of plants with a short life cycle occur at the peak of silicon or titanium or shortly after, and a tree-pollen response follows later. Short disturbances of the vegetation or very early human impact can be detected and delimited even better by the increase of these elements than by pollen analysis. The combined use of these two elements is not so much subject to interferences of diatoms or macrofossils as the use of ash content. The method provides important environmental information additional to pollen analysis. It can be used to detect not only human impact but also natural changes in the vegetation caused by a changing climate. The determination of these two additional parameters is easy and does not require sophisticated equipment.